Friday, September 19

Aside from the weekends, the morning of a swim meet, and let's say...a week before the Junior Olympics, (for all of you swim coaches reading this.....ahem)

we are all about frozen breakfast items

around here.

Now I know you all think that I get home from the gym in the morning and quickly don an apron, get out the flour, and start whipping up homemade biscuits and jam for my sweet little angels every morning. And while all that is cooking, I am squeezing fresh juice from the fresh oranges I had shipped in from Florida. Shockingly - I DO NOT.

It is all about the frozen breakfast items most school days. Seriously!

We buy them all.

the mega pack of Eggo Homestyle Waffles from Costco

Toaster Strudel

Krusteaz Mini Pancakes

Jimmy Dean Breakfast Sandwiches

Batter Blaster

French Toaster Sticks

you name it

I've bought it

they've tried it.

Now keep in mind - I, for the most part, do not partake in any of these convenience items. I also do not swim 4700 yards a night like my kids do. So I need to worry about which butt cheek all these added calories may wind up on. But back to the convenience of it all.

Having these items in the freezer (bottom drawer freezer, I might add) allows my littlest one to go right in and check out what's for breakfast on any given day. Unfortunately, in addition to waffles and the like, there are bags of frozen broccoli, frozen corn, frozen shrimp, frozen mini pizzas, frozen boca burgers etc. Just way too many options for Garrin.

Thursday, September 18

A picture perfect morning here, with cooler temperatures, prompted my friend Jer and I to head over to the park with the kids. We needed some time to catch up and thought the kids would have fun together while we chatted.

It took no time at all for them to run off and get to playing.

So cute!

It didn't take us but a few minutes to be deep in conversation, when we glanced over to see where the kids were playing andwe saw this:

Wednesday, September 17

1. Easy admission to the building. I just walked right in. No lock, no doorbell, no problem.

2. Two young girl dressed like the kids dress in middle school. And I am not talking about how my modest daughter dresses.

3. The knock-you-on-your-ass smell of urine in the room Garrin would be in, even though it is supposed to be the 3 year old - we are potty trained - room.

4. Dirty kids, dirty backpacks, dirty lunchboxes. I am talking the kind of dirty that these items get after at least 4 months at school.

5. No teacher in the room because "she's at lunch" at 10 am in the morning.

6. A diaper pail. In the room that is for the potty trained kids.

7. The schedule for the month........for August......It's September 17th.

ya - buh bye.

Here is what I was looking for in a preschool.

1. A lock on the front door. A doorbell. And someone who comes to the door and opens it once she knows I am not carrying an AK-47.

2. A handshake and a welcome. And most of all, actually remembering our phone conversation 2 days ago. And being attentive to my concern about Garrin's speech delay. Talking about it without my bringing it up first.

3. Garrin walking into the 3 year old (clean) room and getting a giant smile on his face at the sight of:

the teacher

the other kids

the toys

the books

4. Feeling right at home.

5. The love for children that the director expressed in words and actions.

6. And Garrin asking every couple of minutes "Me, Garrin, School?"

So what was this mom to do?

I asked if I could leave him there today..

No

Just kidding.

He starts on Monday. We get to go by a "Ka-Chow" backpack (Lightening McQueen) and lunchbox, as requested by Garrin.

Monday, September 15

Have you heard of it? For a while it was limited to Middle School and High School, up until this year. But now it is offered from Elementary School up to High School.

It is a communication tool between your kids school and their parents.

WOW

Who thought of this?

Because up until this point

I WASN'T PSYCHOTIC ENOUGH ABOUT MY KIDS GRADES.

I DIDN'T RIDE THEM EVERY NIGHT ABOUT THEIR HOMEWORK.

I DIDN'T SCAN EACH AND EVERY PAPER THAT CAME HOME FROM SCHOOL.

I DIDN'T SIT AND ASK WHY THEY MADE SUCH SILLY MISTAKES ON THEIR WORK.

I DIDN'T HYPERVENTILATE EVERY TIME A GRADE CAME BACK THAT WASN'T WHAT I CONSIDERED TO BE ABSOLUTELY PERFECT AND MIGHT LOWER THE TOTAL GRADE POINT AVERAGE TO POSSIBLY PUT OUR (notice I said "our" - like it's mine) STRAIGHT A'S IN JEOPARDY.

Now I can check the friggin' thing a hundred times a day, so that way...

I CAN GET ON THEIR CASE AS SOON AS THEY STEP FOOT IN THE CAR TO COME HOME.

Tuesday, September 9

Now, I am not asking that the swim towels be organized according to color, size, place purchased, year bought, or that like-colored towels be next to each other, while keeping them all in alphabetical order by color, or anything crazy like that.

Monday, September 8

As of today, September 8th, 2008 we have a vacancy. Allison, James, and baby Ella have left to join my brother Christopher back in Connecticut. I just have to launder the sheets and towels, and the room is ready to go for whomever is next to visit us.

On a serious note.

Good luck to Chris and Allison and their newly expanded family and their renewed venture to Connecticut. We will miss you all.